THE contents of a sworn police statement have emerged which contradict NRL football boss Todd Greenberg’s claims that he was not informed about Ryan Tandy’s gambling on rugby league matches at a meeting with the late prop’s betting agent in August 2010.

The NRL Integrity Unit has approached the two witnesses — Bulldogs football manager Alan Thompson and former racing reporter John Schell — who hold the key to Greenberg’s survival, which hangs on an internal investigation into whether he lied about having knowledge of Tandy’s bets on 2010 NRL games.

The latest probe into Greenberg’s former role as Canterbury CEO focuses on an August 17, 2010 meeting with Thompson and Schell, who was placing bets on Tandy’s behalf at the time.

In both a sworn police statement and evidence before the NSW Local Court, Schell has testified that during that meeting he showed Greenberg and Thompson a betting ledger that recorded four separate wagers on NRL fixtures played in June 2010.

Over the next two months, Schell pursued Tandy for $30,370 worth of gambling debts, and met the Bulldogs pair at an Olympic Park cafe to personally express his grievance.

Tendered into evidence as part of the DPP case against Tandy, who was charged with four counts of lying to the NSW Crime Commission, Schell’s hand-written ledger reveals $21,000 worth of rugby league bets.

The issue was revisited in the wake of Tandy’s recent death, with the ABC’s 7:30 program last week approaching Greenberg and Thompson for response over why Canterbury never escalated Schell’s allegations.

While Thompson declined to comment, Greenberg issued the program a categorical denial of being told about Tandy’s NRL bets at the meeting.

‘‘Mr Greenberg says at no stage during the meeting was there any suggestion or allegation of betting on rugby league matches,’’ the spokesperson said.

In Schell’s police statement, sworn to detective senior constable Matthew Gibson on December 10, 2010, Schell recounts the meeting he had with the-then Bulldogs boss and Thompson at Raw café, adjacent to the team’s former Sydney Olympic Park training base.

“I expressed my concerns over the debt that Tandy had to me and showed Greenberg and Thompson the betting ledger that I had kept and also my phone records which showed calls etc,” Schell’s police statement read.

Thompson’s police statement, sworn to Gibson on 17 January 2011, also recalls the meeting, but is silent about the production of Schell’s ledger.

“At this meeting Schell detailed the amount of money that Tandy owed him and also a number of bets that Tandy had been placing,” Thompson’s statement read.

The two police statements concur that Schell did not wish to make a formal complaint at the time.

Instead it was agreed that he contact Tandy’s agent, Sam Ayoub.

Concerned that he might jeopardise his chances of recouping the debt, Schell did not do so.

Schell’s first contact with the Bulldogs came via Thompson, whom he had known socially for a year beforehand. The pair is still close and catch up frequently.

On Saturday the NRL announced it would pose questions in relation to the ABC report, which challenged Canterbury over its failure to properly escalate Schell’s claims at the meeting.

It’s understood the NRL administration at the time did not become aware of Tandy’s bets on rugby league matches until some weeks later, when it hired veteran NSW Racing steward Ray Murrihy to investigate suspicious betting around the infamous Cowboys-Bulldogs match.

Former Bulldogs boss Todd Greenberg.Source:News Corp Australia

The Daily Telegraph can reveal both Thompson and Schell have received calls from the head of the NRL’s Integrity Unit, commercial lawyer Nick Weeks.

Thompson refused to comment on Monday, while Schell said his ongoing co-operation would be determined by his initial meeting with Weeks.

Greenberg did not comment, while an NRL spokesperson said “the NRL takes such issues seriously and is making inquiries into the matter’’.

Greenberg has already survived one internal probe since his appointment to League Central last August, with the Integrity Unit approving his handling of the Ben Barba drama over 12 months ago.

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